McGrath believes atheists’ animosity against Christians is a result of them having to distract themselves from the misery of the smallness of their own world.
I would add that atheists also attack Christians because we are a reminder to them about the sins they don’t want to give up but deep down know they should. They also know God exists but they try to shut out the obvious by attacking Christians with the false hope this will take away the misery of their denial of the obvious. As the Bible states, there’s really no such thing as an atheist.
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What sin?
So how do atheists know that God exists? And how do you know what atheists think and that they are miserable?
Atheists "attack" what they think is a poor argument for God, kind of like this one, or fundies who try and force their religion onto others.
"They also know God exists...."
So you claim to be a mind reader now? You do know that clairvoyance is forbidden in the Bible. So your attempt at claiming to know what is in my head is a sin and you will be damned to Hell for that (according to you Bible).
I believe in logic, the sequence of cause and effect, and in science, it's only begotten son, our law. Conceived by the ancient Greeks, thrived under Isaac Newton, suffered under Albert Einstein...
And yet, Quakers, Amish/Mennonites, Unitarian Universalists et al don't go around imposing their 'morality' upon those who don't want it, especially via insinuating themselves into the political system, nor do they continually get in the faces of others via proseltysing & evangelising; nor do they try to force others to come to their way of thinking (Troll4Life, I'm looking at you ) via the psychological blackmail method of 'Turn or Burn'.
I would add that Christains try to attack - force via 'Turn or Burn' - Atheists, because we are a reminder to them about [i]their[/i] own sins (which don't apply to we Atheists), with Reality taking away their psychological security blankie - 'Faith' & a 'Heaven' to go to - due to the misery of the obvious they're in denial of: that, like we Atheists, they'll end up like leftover pizza: cold, clotted, and stuck to the bottom of a box.
...because as Reality proves - unlike said Quakers, Amish/Mennonites, Unitarian Universalists etc - there's no such thing as a fundie who's secure in their beliefs.
And where does the bible state that? Chapter and verse please.
And even if you could find something in the bible that specifically states athesists are going to fry (specifically! Not "if you translate this passage from Sumarian to Urdo to Japanese to ASL to Hebrew and read it backwards, you will see it suggests that King Momo, who as everyone knows was an unbeliever and therefor in the Lord's view..."), just because something is written in the Big Sky Daddy's Book of Puzzles doesn't mean it has any more weight than anything written in the Koran or the Bhagavad Gita.
Also, our animosity towards you has more to do with the exact same self-satisfied, supercilious,
Happy Holiday!
To me, the Earth is but one planet in an infinite universe with incredible possibilities, wonders beyond our current ability to comprehend, and of course all kinds of assholes to deal with. But hey, it's all about the journey and it'd be a boring one without roadbumps and sidetrips. This being the only life we have we should make the best of it, this being the only world we have we should make it a better place for those who come after us, and with no grand design to worry about we find our own purpose to living.
To religious fundamentalists, the universe consists of Earth, which does not actually matter because it's merely the proving grounds for the afterlife. A plaything for the divine. Everything is already explained, anything that isn't explained is God. Questioning this is a sin. The world will end and be remade, the end is always nigh, so it's no big deal to turn the world into a radioactive landfill with bleached skeletons here and there. There is a grand design and if you do not fit in it your life is worthless and those who resist their place often deserve to die. There is no self, there is no freedom, there is no future, there is only fear of God and what happens next.
Non-fundamentalists... vary.
"McGrath believes atheists’ animosity against Christians is a result of them having to distract themselves from the misery of the smallness of their own world. "
Fundie world: 6000 years old, a flat disk surrounded by a shere with dots of light on it.
Atheist world: 13.86 billion years old, 27+ billion light years wide with kazillions of stars and all sorts of other stuff.
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"As the Bible states, there’s really no such thing as an atheist."
Really? No Unbelievers or Heathens mentioned? Read it .
"They also know God exists"
If you were truthful you admit you don't even know and if you understood what reason is you wouldn't say something so stupid. I guess you Christians all believe in Zeus since you say you don't.
"As the Bible states, there’s really no such thing as an atheist."
No atheists. But there are talking snakes, talking asses, and asses talking.
I would add that atheists also attack Christians because we are a reminder to them about the sins they don’t want to give up but deep down know they should.
That might be a reasonable argument if you could show that atheists universally behave worse than believers. But you can't. Did atheists blow up the Twin Towers? N. That was done by believers who thought they knew what God wanted.
The most dangerous person in the world is one who thinks he has God's permission to do bad stuff.
No, Mr. Hirsute Homosexual Male Lord of Fundy (no offense to LGBTs everywhere); Atheist are distracting themselves from the misery & smallness of YOUR "Religious Fundy" world!
Also, they're not rebelling against Deity! They don't secretly or subconsciously believe such a concept exists! Lemmie spell it out for you, Hairball Harry....
THEY...LITERALLY...DON'T...BELIEVE...IN...A...SUPREME...BEING...OF...ANY...STINKIN'
Capisce?
I think it's the Christians who have got a miserable, small world. A miserable, small world of obedience and literalism and self-hatred and masochism.
And the atheist animosity against Christians comes mainly from the aggressive political self-aggrandisement of said Christians, and their shocking lack of critical reasoning.
It is not at all obvious that your particular religion is the correct one.
I would add that atheists also attack Christians because we are a reminder to them about the sins they don’t want to give up but deep down know they should.
If you remind people of sin, maybe you're not doing it right.
'McGrath believes atheists’ animosity against Christians is a result of them having to distract themselves from the misery of the smallness of their own world.'
Physical or metaphorical?
If metaphorical, my world's no bigger or smaller than a Christian's, Hindu's or anyone's. If physical, I find it quite awe-inspiring. We're on this tiny speck of dust, among a sea of blackness with tiny pinpoints of light, and there's so much to see on this single planet. There's trillions more out there.
Sadly, one of the things that is on this planet are people like... ah... you.
Please! I beg of you! Release me from these squalid confines. Let me no more be constricted by knowledge. O How I long for the wide open spaces of free ranging superstition! How I cry out to be free of this educational malaise! How my heart yearns for the comforting ignorance of banal platitudes and canting bollocks.
Have mercy! Have mercy! Take me away from this world of happiness! Lead me to the world of glorious misery! Please! Tell me the secret proofs of Bible God!
"the misery of the smallness of their own world."
Our version of the universe is infinitely large with a lifespan almost beyond counting and potentially home to countless kinds of lifeforms, intelligent and otherwise. To say nothing of the wonders of physics and chemistry. Stars ten thousand times the size of our own exploding with energy so great that they can tear whole arms of galaxies asunder and leave beautiful, rainbow colored clouds in their wake or else collapse into points of gravity so dense that not even light or time itself can escape it's pull. Funnels and tears in the fabric of reality that can send objects hurtling at speeds uncalculable through space and time to far flung corners of the universe and potentially, into completely new and utterly alien universes neighboring our own.
In yours, the world was created in a week by an invisible man in the sky to be the only life-bearing world in the universe to test the inhabitants and see who gets to join his special person's club in the clouds.
Now then, which one feels 'small' again?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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